Bellator 101's Ricardo Tirloni on Clementi: 'We're in a real fight'

Ricardo Tirloni was pretty happy about his fight with Marcin Held – until he got a bit of a lottery ticket to take a step up the ladder for free.

Tirloni (15-4 MMA, 2-3) was supposed to fight Held this Friday on the Bellator 101 prelims. The bout would’ve been a reserve fight for the Season 9 lightweight tournament, which has its opening round taking place on the main card.

“I was happy because (Held) is a very good fighter, and I was interested in facing him, even though I consider my jiu-jitsu game better than his,” Tirloni told MMAjunkie.com. “Everyone was looking forward to our fight.”

But when Rob Sinclair got injured in training, Rich Clementi (45-22-1 MMA, 2-2 BMMA) needed a new opponent in the tournament. And Tirloni was absolutely fine saying yes to that phone call.

Bellator 101 takes place Friday at The Moda Center at Rose Quarter (formerly known as Rose Garden) in Portland. The main card, including the Tirloni-Clementi tournament fight, airs on Spike TV following prelims on Spike.com.

Tirloni, from Brazil, will be looking to snap a rough stretch that has seen him drop two in a row and three of his past four fights. In the Season 8 lightweight tournament, Will Brooks burst onto the Bellator scene and won a unanimous decision.

But that loss, Tirloni was fine with. It was the one before that, a split-decision setback against Dave Jansen in the Season 7 lightweight tournament semifinals, that had him stinging for a while.

“That result really left me angry and indignant,” Tirloni said. “I thought I fought very well. But that’s in the past now. I don’t even think about it anymore. My lesson was not to leave room for interpretation. Going forward, I would like to show I clearly won and I gave no chance to my opponent. I am glad the Jansen loss is behind me now, though that wasn’t the case when I faced Will Brooks.

“I wasn’t well, emotionally. Against Brooks, only he came to fight. I certainly did not. My head was still on that semifinal loss against Jansen. I’ve evolved since then. That’s all behind me now.”

Now he has Clementi in front of him, a veteran of nearly 70 pro fights. Tirloni is a 2-to-1 favorite against the American.

It’s a matchup Tirloni believes can really up his own stature in the MMA world thanks to Clementi’s deep resume.

“I used to watch him on TV – I’ve watched many of his fights,” Tirloni said of Clementi. “That makes me very excited for this fight. If I beat him, I’ll be beating someone with victories over many great opponents. I prefer fights like this. I prefer to face name opponents, as opposed to unknowns. I think all the elements are there for this to be an active fight. I don’t enjoy being part of a boring fight. I was very happy when this was booked. He has 45 victories. I lost track of how many good fighters he’s beaten.”

But Tirloni also in intent on making sure “No Love” can’t add his name to that list of good fighters he’s had his hand raised against.

“I believe he’s gone through almost everything,” he said. “But he hasn’t gone through everything, because he hasn’t gone through me. All is in place for this to be the best fight of the night.”

And there’s a big reason Tirloni believes it’ll be Friday’s best bout. The Brazilian said he’s completely changed his outlook on what happens once he steps inside the cage.

“I’m going in with a different mindset,” he said. “I had been fighting too technically. Not this time. As soon the cage door closes, we’re in a real fight. Let’s see who can take the most punishment within 15 minutes. I’m not in this sport simply to put on entertaining bouts. I’m here to fight to the utmost of my ability.

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